Violent Enforcement: 1915, 1968, 1980
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This editorial in the October 7, 1915 edition of the Cedartown Standard condemns the "spirit of mob law" displayed by Cumming residents who attacked the Black drivers of the Seeing Georgia driving tour.
Courtesy of Georgia Newspaper Project, Georgia Historic Newspapers.
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Forsyth County News editor Tony Maddox criticized the men who intimidated Black schoolchildren at a Lake Lanier campground in 1968, but he was more concerned that "last weekend's stupid incident could trigger deliberate attempts to provoke trouble or even violence to focus attention and publicity on Forsyth County."
Copyright Forsyth County News. Courtesy of Georgia Newspaper Project, Georgia Historic Newspapers.
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Melvin Crowe, a distant relative of Mae Crow, was one of three men convicted for the shooting of Miguel Marcelli in 1980. The Forsyth County News covered his November trial in a story on its front page.
Copyright Forsyth County News. Courtesy of Georgia Newspaper Project, Georgia Historic Newspapers.
A pattern of violence against African Americans who attempted to defy Cumming’s sundown town emerged in the years after 1912. Even if they were accompanied by whites, Black visitors were frequently threatened or attacked by white supremacists.
In 1915, three years after the racial cleansing, Cumming was a scheduled stop for the Seeing Georgia driving tour. Driving tours were common during this era. They took wealthy Georgians to small towns around the state, frequently resulting in valuable investments. But when the convoy pulled into the Cumming square, a mob attacked the Black chauffeurs, and a lynching nearly took place before one passenger pointed a gun at the rioters.
Fifty years later, little had changed. Ten Black schoolchildren and their camp counselors tried to hold a campout by Lake Lanier in 1968, but after nightfall, a gang of white men surrounded the campground, chanting slurs and threatening them until they left.
Another shocking incident occurred in 1980 when Black firefighter Miguel Marcelli attended a work party with his girlfriend at a Lake Lanier campground. Two white men stalked him after the sun went down and shot him in the head as he drove away.